Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

~The Reformation~ - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The Renaissance encouraged people to think for themselves and question old beliefs.
      - The Church had supported Renaissance art and learning, but this made people more educated and curious.
      - People began to read the Bible in their own language, instead of just listening to priests.
      - They discovered that the Bible’s messages were sometimes different from what the Church taught.
      - The invention of the printing press helped ideas spread very quickly.
      - Reformers like Martin Luther could share their writings all over Europe.
      - This helped people challenge the power and authority of the Church.
  - - - The Church was the richest organisation in Europe.
      - It owned about one-third of the land in countries like Germany.
      - Many bishops and monasteries were huge landowners and collected rent from farmers.
      - The Church earned lots of money from tithes (a tax = one-tenth of everyone’s income).
      - This made ordinary people angry, especially when they saw bishops and cardinals living in luxury.
      - People felt that the Church cared more about money than about religion.
  - - - Simony: the buying or selling of positions within the Church.
        → Priests, bishops and cardinals had the chance to buy jobs, or pay popes and cardinals to appoint them.
      - Nepotism:the appointing of relatives to Church jobs regardless of merit.
        → Family members of bishops or cardinals were given jobs even if they didn’t deserve them.
      - Pluralism: holding more than one Church job at the same time.
        → Some bishops had many dioceses to get more money.
      - Absenteeism: a priest or bishop being absent from their parish(parrocchia) or diocese for a long time.
        → They didn’t live there or care for their parishioners.
      - Sales of Indulgences: the Church claimed to reduce time in purgatory in exchange for money.
        → People could pay to have their sins forgiven or shorten time in purgatory; this targeted poor people and made the Church richer.
      - Misbehaviour of Priests, Bishops and Popes
        
        Many priests and bishops did not live very Christian lives.
        
        Some openly had mistresses and fathered children, breaking their vows of celibacy.
        
        Many parish priests were uneducated — some couldn’t even read or write, so they were unable to properly say Mass or perform their duties.
        
        Even at the highest level, some popes (like Julius II and Alexander VI) were more interested in power and expanding their land than in running the Church or helping Christians.
        
        Because of all this, many ordinary people lost respect for the clergy and the papacy, believing the Church had become corrupt.
  - - - Kings had gained control over their nobles but not the Church, which was ruled from Rome.
      - They resented this and wanted to weaken the Church’s power and take its wealth for themselves.
- - - - Martin Luther was born in 1483 in Saxony, Germany, part of the Holy Roman Empire.
      - He came from a wealthy family, studied law, but later chose to become an Augustinian monk.
      - He eventually became a Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg.
  - - - The Pope could not forgive sins.
        
        Indulgences did not save people.
        
        The Pope should use his own wealth to rebuild churches, not poor people’s money.
  - - - At first Pope Leo X ignored Luther, then sent John Eck to debate him in 1519.
      - Luther said the Pope had no more power than anyone else to interpret the Bible.
      - In 1520, Leo issued a papal bull threatening excommunication unless Luther recanted.
      - Luther refused, burned the bull, and was excommunicated in 1521.
  - - - Emperor Charles V invited Luther to defend his ideas at the Diet of Worms.
      - Luther refused to take back his words: “I cannot and will not recant anything.
      - Charles declared him an outlaw under the Edict of Worms.
      - Prince Frederick of Saxony hid him in Wartburg Castle, where Luther translated the Bible into German, so everyone could read it.
  - - - The Bible, not the Pope, is the only source of truth.
      - Princes and kings should control religion in their own states.
      - Mass and Bible should be in the vernacular (local language).
      - Justification by faith alone.
      - Clergy can marry.
      - Only 2 sacraments (Baptism and Communion).
      - Rejected transubstantiation, believed in consubstantiation (bread and wine represent Jesus).
  - - - Luther married Katharina von Bora, a former nun, and had six children.
      - His teachings spread rapidly across Europe.
      - After several wars, the Peace of Augsburg (1555) allowed rulers to choose their state’s religion.
      - This divided Europe into Protestant and Catholic regions and inspired other reformers.
- - - - 1531 – Ulrich Zwingli started the Reformation in Switzerland.
      - 1534 – Henry VIII created the Church of England (Anglican Church).
      - 1537 – King Christian III made Lutheranism official in Denmark and Norway.
      - 1541 – John Calvin founded Presbyterianism in Geneva, teaching predestination (God already decides who goes to heaven).
      - 1571 – The Netherlands became Protestant.
      - 1572 – John Knox brought Presbyterianism to Scotland.
- - - - Established to punish heretics (people opposing Church teachings).
      - Used torture, imprisonment, and public burnings (auto-da-fé).
      - Punishments included fines, confiscation, or wearing a yellow cloak (sanbenito).
      - Helped stop the spread of Protestantism in Spain and Italy.
  - - - To rebuild trust and teach faith, new religious groups appeared:
      - Ursuline nuns and Capuchin monks worked with the poor, opened schools and hospitals.
      - Jesuits (Society of Jesus), founded by Ignatius of Loyola (1534), became very powerful:
        
        Missionaries in Asia and the Americas.
        
        Opened schools for sons of nobles.
        
        Highly educated and disciplined.
  - - - Reforms:
      - Banned simony, pluralism, nepotism, absenteeism, and sale of indulgences.
      - Opened seminaries to train priests.
      - Priests had to remain celibate and follow strict behaviour rules.
      - Published the Index of Prohibited Books (books Catholics couldn’t read).
    - - Teachings reaffirmed:
      - Both faith and good works are needed for salvation.
      - All seven sacraments kept.
      - Mass and Bible stayed in Latin.
      - Wrote the Catechism, a clear rulebook for Catholic belief.
- - - - Spain vs Netherlands (1568–1648) – Dutch gained independence.
        
        Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) – Spanish Armada defeated.
        
        Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) – one-third of Germans died.
        
        Peace of Westphalia (1648) – allowed private religious freedom.
  - - - Protestant North (Germany, Scandinavia, England).
        
        Catholic South (Italy, Spain, France).
        
        Both sides persecuted minorities in their countries.
  - - - Protestants wanted everyone to read the Bible → more literacy.
        
        Catholics opened schools to teach their own faith.
        
        → Education improved across Europe.